The final secret of the Eight Inner Gates, used by Might Dai, was the Night Guy technique, which struck the Grass-Breaking Man with devastating force.
Might Dai kicked the Wild Bait Man through the grass and didn't stop until his opponent crashed into the mountain. The powerful impact created a large hole in the mountainside.
After the smoke and dust cleared, Might Dai collapsed to the ground, his body charred black from the technique's effects. As for the Grass-Breaking Man who had been kicked into the mountain, only half of his body remained, his death extremely gruesome.
Sora let out a deep breath.
The Night Guy performed by Might Dai had left a powerful impression on Sora. If he had to face this move himself... he would have no chance of winning. He couldn't even hope to dodge it. The speed completely surpassed Sora's fastest Thunderbolt Flash and Divine Speed techniques. And by a significant margin.
Sora approached Might Dai's side. By now, Might Dai had already passed away, his body beginning to disintegrate into fly-like ashes.
This was Might's final dance—gorgeous, brilliant, but tragically short-lived.
"You are strong, Might Dai. Konoha is fortunate to have a shinobi like you. Farewell," Sora said respectfully.
After Sora finished speaking, Might Dai's body completely turned to ash.
...
After Sora departed, he opened his system interface and received notifications:
[Witnessed the end of Might Dai's technique: 5,000 witness points awarded]
[Witnessed the death of the First Generation Blunt Knife and Pocket Cutter user, the Wild Bait Man: 500 witness points awarded]
The Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Ghost, who had been knocked away by Guy's dragon-shaped steam attack, remained on the ground for a long time before slowly standing up.
The Pufferfish Ghost coughed up blood and muttered, "I was injured just from a glancing blow. Was that really just a Genin from Konoha? I need to leave quickly. If I encounter a Konoha shinobi now, I'll be at a severe disadvantage."
"There's no need to run away. You won't feel any difficulty—you'll be relieved immediately," came Sora's voice from behind the Pufferfish Ghost.
The fat body of the Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Ghost trembled as he turned to face Sora.
Sora looked at him with an expressionless face and said sarcastically, "Your two companions escaped quite quickly. Were you unable to follow because you're too fat?"
The Pufferfish Ghost recognized Sora immediately. "You! The Blood-eyed Shura?!"
Terrified, the Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Ghost quickly performed hand signs for a jutsu.
"Thousand Needles Jutsu!"
The Pufferfish Ghost hardened his hair and fired rapidly at Sora, the needles falling like heavy rain.
Sora, who had activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, easily dodged the attack.
He looked at the Pufferfish Ghost with cold eyes. "Yes, it's me. So please die!"
The Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Ghost swung the barb-covered Samehada in his hand, his eyes gleaming with desperation.
Something surprising happened—his attack appeared to hit Sora.
But...
"No! It's a genjutsu!" the Pufferfish Ghost cried out as the Sora he hit dissipated like mist.
Suddenly, the Pufferfish Ghost felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck as the tip of a ninja sword pierced through his throat.
Sora's voice came from behind him: "It's your loss that you didn't die from the first strike."
The plump body of the Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Ghost crashed to the ground. He clutched his throat, staring at Sora, trying to say something, but with his throat pierced, no words came out.
Sora stood there, watching as the Pufferfish Ghost slowly died.
[Kill confirmed: Witnessed the death of the First Generation Samehada user, Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Ghost: 700 witness points awarded]
Beside the Pufferfish Ghost's body, Samehada twitched and moved, seemingly attempting to escape.
Sora pointed his ninja sword directly at Samehada.
"Breath of Thunder: Fifth Form—Heat World Thunder!"
Sora's ninja sword released a high-heat lightning impact, striking Samehada's body.
Samehada twisted wildly, and suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sora frowned. "Summoning Contract..."
Sora didn't dwell on it. No matter how powerful Samehada was, it was just a ninja sword. Even the Watermelon Mountain Pufferfish Ghost with Samehada had proven weak.
Even the future Hoshigaki Kisame would be no match for Sora in his current state.
Sora continued into battle, searching for more Mist shinobi to eliminate.
...
More than two months passed.
The Mist shinobi in the Land of Waves had been mostly eliminated, with only a few remaining unaccounted for.
From the initial force of 98 Uchiha ninjas, only a few dozen remained—the casualties had been heavy.
But the surviving Uchiha shinobi couldn't complain. Under Sora's leadership, they had successfully conquered the Land of Waves.
The happiest person was Danzo back in Konoha.
Sora kept bringing him Uchiha Sharingan eyes. In addition to the seven pairs given to Danzo previously, there were now five more pairs.
Twelve pairs of Sharingan in total, two of which were Three Tomoe Sharingan.
They had been lucky to collect these five additional pairs, as the Uchiha clan was very cautious about protecting their Sharingan. Typically, when facing death, they would destroy their eyes to prevent the Sharingan from falling into enemy hands.
Shortly after the Land of Waves was stabilized, Sora received urgent orders to immediately proceed to the Land of Hot Water, taking the remaining Uchiha ninjas with him.
Konoha had received critical intelligence: the Hidden Cloud Village was making a major move. It seemed the Third Raikage himself was heading to the Land of Hot Water to reverse the Cloud's declining position there.
After receiving these orders, Sora handed control of the Land of Waves to Nara Kubota and immediately departed for the Land of Hot Water with the Uchiha ninjas.
A few days later, upon arriving in the Land of Hot Water, Sora immediately met with Orochimaru.
From Orochimaru, he received confirmation of the news: the Third Raikage was indeed coming to the Land of Hot Water.
A large number of elite Cloud shinobi had already been deployed there and had begun counterattacking the Konoha forces—a desperate, all-out assault.
The unprepared Konoha shinobi suffered heavy losses in the initial wave.
It seemed the Hidden Cloud Village no longer wanted to maintain a stalemate. They intended to launch a full-scale attack against Konoha, hoping to force Iwagakure to join them in the assault.
The ninja forces in the Land of Grass couldn't be moved, as they needed to monitor the Rock shinobi's movements.
Some Konoha shinobi were even redeployed from the River Country battlefield, where they had been fighting Sand shinobi, to support the forces in the Land of Grass.
And because the Land of Waves had been stabilized thanks to Sora's exceptional combat abilities, all remaining Uchiha ninjas were dispatched to the Land of Hot Water to prepare for the imminent conflict.
Sora and Orochimaru discussed strategies for dealing with the Third Raikage's arrival.
Under the Cloud shinobi's relentless attacks, Konoha's forces were struggling to hold their ground.
If the Third Raikage personally arrived, they would likely have to retreat to the Land of Fire.
After discussing the situation at length, they reached no solid conclusion.
When a Kage fights in person, both the strategic impact and the effect on morale are completely different.
However, Sora suspected that the Third Raikage might not actually make it to the Land of Hot Water.
If Sora's memory served him correctly, Iwagakure would likely create problems for the Hidden Cloud Village, possibly preventing the Raikage's departure.
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